Frame paid menstrual policy for women employees, says plea

Madurai: Madras high court on Monday sought a response from the state on a plea seeking a direction to the state govt to frame a comprehensive paid menstrual leave policy for women employees in govt departments, public sector undertakings, govt educational institutions, allied establishments, and special guidelines for private institutions.A division bench of justice N Sathish Kumar and justice M Jothiraman directed the state to file a status report on its stand while hearing a public interest litigation filed by M Narmatha.The petitioner stated that she is working as a lab technician at the department of health and preventive medicine in Madurai. Namratha stated that she noticed many women employees in her department, as well as patients, suffer from menstrual cramps at varied levels of pain. While Karnataka, Bihar, and Odisha have menstrual leave policies, there was no such policy in Tamil Nadu. The absence of a menstrual leave policy results in indirect discrimination against women employees, thereby violating Article 14 of the Constitution, as women alone bear the burden of a recurring biological condition and are compelled either to suffer wage loss or to work through debilitating pain, unlike their male counterparts. The existing leave framework, namely casual leave and sick leave, is wholly inadequate to address a recurring, monthly biological condition such as dysmenorrhoea, forcing women employees to exhaust leave entitlements or suffer loss of wages, thereby affecting their service conditions unfairly.She stated that the right to health, bodily autonomy, and dignity of women is an inseparable facet of Article 21 of the Constitution, and menstruation being a natural biological process, denial of any institutional support or leave during periods of severe menstrual pain amounts to compelling women to work in conditions that undermine their dignity, physical well-being, and mental health. The state is expressly empowered under Article 15(3) of the Constitution to make special provisions for women, and framing a menstrual leave policy is a constitutionally permissible and affirmative welfare measure aimed at addressing a gender-specific biological condition, and does not offend the principle of equality.The petitioner stated that the continued policy vacuum adversely affects lakhs of women working in govt sectors, anganwadis, schools, rural health centres, and sanitation services, many of whom lack rest facilities or flexible work options, thereby aggravating health risks and workplace inequality. The same is the situation for women who are in the private sector but do not have flexible work options in their line of work. Menstrual leave is not a concession or privilege but a public health and labour welfare measure recognised globally, and the state's failure to acknowledge this amounts to abdication of its duty under Article 47 of the Constitution to improve public health.She submitted a representation to the authorities seeking to frame a comprehensive paid menstrual leave policy for women employees. However, the same is yet to be considered. Hence, she moved court seeking relief.